


Ants

by fujiidom



Category: New Girl
Genre: Backstory, Female Friendship, Gen, Misses Clause Challenge, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 15:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1095627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fujiidom/pseuds/fujiidom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the unhappiest beginnings make for the happiest of endings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ants

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Clio (clio_jlh)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clio_jlh/gifts).



> I promise, it's only a sausage party til the knives are sharpened! Hope this is to your liking and you have a great Yuletide! Thanks to [Kacey](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hellolamppost17) and [Jess](http://archiveofourown.org/users/galfridian) for proofing and encouragement!

An old episode of _Golden Girls_ is on the television, a friend of Dorothy’s has a crush on Rose. Rose is letting her down gently. No one is watching.

“I looked at her phone and some guy had texted her ‘wear that cute sundress, the one you wore that time we went to Napa,’” Nick explains solemnly to Schmidt and Winston.

Schmidt squints his eyes, looking a bit overcome with disbelief.

Nick continues, “And then—”

###

Jess leans over, reads the text and nods to herself. Nick watches her type a response and leave her phone on the counter where she’s been flitting around looking at the contents of the refrigerator and cupboards. Nick stares, eyes wide like a nervous owl, following her movements as his head remains frozen in place.

She lets out a sigh, at last, and then goes back to her room. Nick stares at her phone like it’s pointing a gun at him.

###

“Poor form, Nicholas. Poor form,” Schmidt responds, grimly.

“I’m sure she’s looked at my phone. When you don’t set the notifications to keep the texts hidden, you’re basically asking for it.”

“You’re basically asking for it?” Winston repeats, aghast. “Well, Nick, next time you leave a sandwich unattended then I’m eating it because you’d be basically asking for me to, right?”

“My notifications are set to private so this stuff doesn’t happen,” Nick proclaims. He juts his chin out a bit in indignation, his hand gesture matches his shrugging posture.

“Setting your phone to private is cheating,” Schmidt says.

“It is not,” Nick disagrees.

“Nick, the thing about knowing what her texts say and her not knowing what yours say is the same as you texting terrible things to girls she’s never met because you know she can’t see them. It’s the one sided glass of emotional intimacy.” Schmidt puts his hands on his hips in what Nick has always thought was a great impression of his mother, though it’s usually just Schmidt being Schmidt. He does that twitchy, multiple head shakes thing he does when he’s at the end of his rope. “Why do you think so many cops get divorced?”

Winston and Nick both lean back, letting the crazy wash over them without a word.

“Jess trusts you, she loves you. Her phone doesn’t hide text messages, her touch screen isn’t locked.” Schmidt declares this as though he’s giving the final speech in a Garry Marshall movie.

Nick groans, long and pained. He buries his face in his palms.

###

When Nick watches Jess emerge from her bedroom the following morning, he kicks his slippers off and wanders over to the island, grabbing a stool. Maybe he’s been up waiting for her to get up, maybe he’s just hanging around.

He pinches his face together tightly and looks like he’s trying hard to remain quiet. She walks in wearing a pretty blue polka dotted sun dress with a bright yellow sweater. She looks beautiful.

And just like someone who would be going to Napa.

Eventually he gets it together long enough to make a normal face and take a short breath. “You look nice, what’s the occasion?”

“Um, not much. I have to run a few errands in the city,” she says, grinning warmly.

“Oh,” Nick lets out, strangled.

There’s a massive throat clearing from the couch, where Winston’s seated. It’s followed by a suspiciously timed coughing fit care of Schmidt, who is trying to appear casually uninterested looking at the miscellaneous items on the shelf behind Winston.

“Do you want company?” Nick asks over continued cries of dismay from across the apartment.

Jess pulls out a pair of fancy green water bottles, the ones Nick makes fun of when he goes to the store because why would anyone pay that much for water. He drinks it for free from the tap or from the shower head, if the taps aren’t working.

Jess’ mouth stays in a polite straight line, searching for words for just a little too long. “No, that’s fine. It’s a bunch of a girly stuff. You’d be bored.”

Nick’s mouth pinches shut and he forces his eyes to remain mostly non-slits, to convey at least a touch of normalcy. He looks like a football coach during the final quarter, down twenty points. Got to stay looking positive or the team will fall apart under poor leadership.

He knows a lot about this look in particular, as a Bears fan.

“Right, sure. I think I’m gonna go get some books at the library,” Nick blurts out. His hands are tucked under his armpits, as if he’s hugging himself to keep from saying something more.

Jess blinks slowly before her eyes widen. She stares at Nick falling apart in front of her.

“Wow, I didn’t know you read,” Jess says. It would sound cruel coming from anyone else, but the lilt in her voice is pure K-12 teacher and at first Nick just makes a cocky, proud face in what he hopes makes him look as sophisticated as he’s pretending to be.

“Of course I read,” Nick says. The sophistication starts to crack as he cricks his neck, his mouth slants, and he can’t come up with a single book title to throw in Jess’ face.

“Okay, well.” Jess looks around, baffled. “Have fun?”

Nick maintains eye contact as he walks backwards, feeling for purchase on one of the dining room chairs, and then on the table for where he left his keys.

He walks out of the apartment with a serial killer looking grin and no shoes.

Jess shrugs it off with a head shake and goes back to looking through the refrigerator for the rest of what she needs. She calls out bye in the direction of the living room as Schmidt and Winston announce they have overdue fines to take care of and follow Nick out.

Schmidt doubles back for a discarded pair of slippers Nick left beside the entryway table.

###

When the two guys get down to the car, Nick has his butt up in the air, searching in the back seat through a pile of clothes, papers, and bags for a pair of shoes. He finds one flip flop and sits back upward with a huff, resigned to his poor mood.

Schmidt knocks on the passenger side window and holds the slippers up. “If you plan on stalking your girlfriend, you probably want to upgrade from day-old socks,” Schmidt says loudly so Nick can hear him through the glass.

Winston pushes Schmidt aside and opens the car door. “Why don’t you just _ask_ Jess about the text? How is following her around like a lunatic going to make anything better?”

Schmidt opens the back door and they both get into the car.

“Because what if it’s nothing?” Nick says. “What if I’m just some psycho who is reading too much into a text from some random dude and Jess is really the best and I’m just dumb?”

There’s a silence from where Winston is sitting and Schmidt is sitting with his head turned to the side in the back seat, before he snaps forward and all but yells. “WHAT IF?” He takes a gasp of air and continues to enunciate like he’s teaching a fifteenth century diction class. “ _WHAT IF_? Nick. _Nick_. What do you think is happening, right now? Do you think lying to your girlfriend and then following her around is some grand romantic gesture?”

There’s no response.

“Dammit, Nick,” Winston groans. “I knew Jess was out of your league, but this is embarrassing.”

“Well, get out of the car then. I’m going to the library alone!” Nick yells.

They both shake their heads.

“You don’t even have a library card, Nick. How far do you think this rouse can even hold up? Amateur.”

Before Nick can respond again, Jess steps out of the elevator at the end of the parking lot and all three instinctively duck down to avoid being seen.

Nick slowly creeps his head up to watch from the left window where Jess won’t see him. Her car is parked outside the garage.

She’s carrying a picnic basket.

“She’s carrying a picnic basket,” Nick says.

Winston and Schmidt share an uncomfortable look. She’s been lying. It might mean nothing, but.

Nick reaches over for the slippers, puts them on quickly, and starts the car. Enya’s “Only Time” blasts to life from the car speakers. Nick flinches with brief embarrassment before he leans into it.

Winston fumbles around to change the channel but it is being transmitted by Nick’s phone to the cigarette lighter. After a few seconds of fruitless button mashing while Schmidt yells, “WHAT ARE WE, ELVISH?” Winston gives up and Nick shifts into gear.

The car creeps forward slowly as if in neutral and with the music up high, it’s a ridiculous sight.

“IF IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR VAN DAMME, IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME,” Nick screams over the melodic humming.

###

The boys park the car in the lot next to the small grassy park that Jess arrives at, leaving a distance between themselves and where she walks carrying the picnic basket.

Now that they’re closer, a nice red ribbon is visible on the front side of the basket. Nick has been making progressively more smushed together faces since their arrival. They group behind an old, wide oak tree next to the park’s entrance sign. Nick fists his hands into makeshift binoculars.

“Nick, what are you doing?” Winston sneers at him.

“Trying to get a better look at them,” Nick says.

“You are literally just squinting through tiny holes, have you lost your damn mind?”

“I can see great, I don’t know what your problem is.”

Schmidt attempts to do the same. “Actually, Winston, he’s not wrong. I know logically this can’t be doing anything but it sure feels like I’m seeing her better,” Schmidt says, grinning with surprise.

From across the small field they can see Jess take out the two bottles of water she’d packed earlier and Nick scoffs. “She’s drinking thirty dollar bottles of water with this joker.”

Winston gives up and joins in on the hand binocular front. He tsks. “Those aren’t thirty dollars, Nick, they’re like seven ninety-nine at Trader Joe’s.”

“I have never paid eight dollars for a bottle of water in my life and I’m proud of that, okay. Now we just need this Rav Shanks jerk to show up so I can confront them in person!”

Schmidt drops his hand binoculars. “Rav Shanks,” he repeats.

“Yeah, Rav Shanks,” Nick says back, gruffly.

Schmidt squints like he’s almost done the sudoku but one number still eludes him, before: “Did the name on the phone say Rav Shanks or Ravi Shankar?”

Nick’s eyes light up. “Wait, it did! Rav Shanks, Ravi Shankar, whatever his name is, that’s who she was texting.” He pauses and his eyes widen further, “Wait. You know this guy?”

Schmidt bristles, so in shock that he can’t do more besides sway around with an over tensed neck and a gaping mouth. “RAVI SHANKAR, THE MUSICAL LEGEND. YES, NICK I KNOW HIM.” Schmidt says this too loudly and although Jess only looks for a second, it’s enough for their cover to be blown.

“Nick?” She yells from her picnic blanket. She walks over to their spot briskly, annoyance written clearly on her face. “Nick what are you guys doing here?”

Before the conversation can progress further, a car door shuts from behind them and their heads all turn simultaneously to see Cece double clicking her car lock.

Only Nick turns back to look at Jess, when he finally speaks, he screams. “YOU’RE CHEATING ON ME WITH CECE?”

###

After the initial flip out, everyone calms down some and tries to work out exactly what’s been going on. Winston and Schmidt show Cece to the picnic blanket so Jess and Nick can have some privacy to set the record straight. Schmidt smacks Winston’s hand several times as he attempts to dig into the basket for grapes.

“So you’re not cheating on me?” Nick asks, leaning against his car’s hood.

“No, of course not, Nick. Have you met me? I was cheated on. I would never do that to somebody else!” Jess says, her voice straining with contempt. “And you were looking through my phone, reading my texts!”

“To Ravi Shankar! Some guy who wants you to wear cute sundresses and pack him picnic lunches on a weekday afternoon.”

“To Cece. Ravi Shankar is Cece, she’s programmed in my phone as Ravi Shankar because,” Jess huffs when Nick gives her a cajoling “So?” look. “Because she’s the fifth Beatle. It was a lot cuter in context. I don’t really have the time or the setting to sell the joke, here.”

“Fifth Beatle?” Nick asks. “Like The Beatles, Beatle?”

“Yes, those Beatles.”

After a beat, Nick’s expression softens greatly. “So which two are we?”

“Nick, why does it matter now? You just crashed—”

“I just want to know!”

“Paul and Ringo,” Jess says, begrudgingly, looking at the ground.

Nick nods, smiling. “Oh, so,” he points at himself, “Paul,” then at Jess, “Ringo?”

Without looking up Jess points to herself and then him and repeats, “Paul, Ringo.”

Nick’s face smushes back up worse than before, like he’s eaten a bucket of lemons.

“Can you guys just leave now, so we can have our picnic in privacy?” Jess asks, tersely.

“Why do you want to have this weird picnic with Cece, pretending like you had other plans, basically letting me think you’re cheating on me?” Nick asks, serious.

Jess rolls her eyes. “Nick, this is kind of personal.”

Nick tries to read her. “You’re not really cheating on me with Cece, right?”

“No, I said I wasn’t. That’s dumb, Nick. She’s my best friend.”

“Then what is it with the secrecy and the lies?”

Jess sighs. “This is just a tradition that we do on this date because we made plans to do it when we were really young and we’ve done it ever since.”

“What plans?”

Jess bites her lip. “Ugh. Okay, well. I guess I’d have to tell you eventually, I just didn’t think it was time yet.”

“How serious is this?” Nick asks. He looks almost scared.

Jess shrugs. “It’s not serious, but it’s really personal and it’s not exactly stuff I relish talking about all the time, you know. I know I’m goofy and emotional about a lot of stuff, but the stuff that really matters, the stuff Cece and I have gone through, I don’t just throw it around willy nilly. Some stuff belongs close to the chest.”

Nick nods.

“Okay. Well. Believe it or not I was not always this hip and cool,” Jess starts.

###

  
_When Jess gets to math class, there’s a new kid._

_She sits in the back where she usually does because she doesn’t like when the teacher asks her questions just because she wears glasses and pays a modicum of attention._

_This unintentional brown-nosing invites Jessica P. and Jennifer S. to laugh at her and make stupid four eyes jokes like it’s the sixties. She’s one of five kids in that room alone that wear glasses, so their material is pretty weak._

_The new kid sits next to her, as there aren’t any other seats left open, and she tries to act casual._

_“Is it true that you french kissed a dog?” the new boy asks._

_Jess turns bright red and hides her head in her hands on the short stack of books in front of her._

_Jessica P. and Jennifer S. cackle from the front of the room. They make woofing noises throughout the rest of the class.  
_

###

_In gym class, she realizes that since she’s in her first year of middle school, there’s at least fifty or sixty new students sprinkled in from neighboring elementary schools. It’s been slowly bringing on an anxiety attack as the day goes on, each period being a little more full of new kids resulting in Jess’ inhaler becoming a little more worse for wear. At least with the multitude of schedules and new students, the amount of time spent with Jessica P. and Jennifer S. is much smaller than elementary school._

_She hates the way her knees look in the gym uniforms they’re all forced to wear. They’re dark green and she’s never not been pale, but paired against her skin it makes her look dead.  
___

__

____

###

__  
_It’s not until it’s nearly time for art class that she even cracks a smile for the first time that day. She loves painting and drawing, so she’s excited to see what kind of projects they require._

_On her way to class, however, she wants to put some of her books back in her locker. During her stop over, she realizes that someone must’ve tampered with her lock because after five different attempts, the door won’t open. It’s her first day at the new school and unsure of what the rules for being in the hall in between classes, unsupervised, or worse yet being late for a class, she decides to leave it until later, damning Jessica P. and Jennifer S. for no doubt doing this purposefully._

_The bell rings before she gets to art class and when she walks in the teacher shoots her a dirty look. When she sits in the back, the teacher goes on to explain more about working in pairs. Jess looks around and realizes that everyone’s already paired off._

_She counts the number of students. After starting again because she loses count, she comes up with twenty three. She’s got no partner._

_This class was going to be the only saving grace of this horrible day and now she’s trying her best not to cry. Not just because it’d be embarrassing but she refuses to let it get back to Jessica and Jennifer that they’ve gotten to her. Just before she finally breaks and can’t hold it in any more, another girl walks in. She’s quiet and clearly mortified at being late as well, so she ducks her head and shuffles to the seat on the opposite side of the aisle from Jess without making eye contact with the further annoyed teacher._

_Jess watches, after the girl gets her bearings, as she realizes the partners aspect of the class. The same way Jess had counted the students, the other girl cranes her head around discreetly as she clearly does the same. When she gets to the back of the room she loses count because Jess is staring directly at her._

_Without a word, Jess smiles and she knows. She _knows_. They’re both safe, now.  
_

###

__

_Later, when they’re done discussing what kind of pictures they’re going to take for the photography part of the class and what theme their paintings for the first project will take, Jess and Cece leave the classroom smiling._

_They both have lunch next period and agree to tag along with each other so they won’t have to sit alone._

_“I’m still pissed that my locker is being stupid. Well, not being stupid. It was sabotaged.”_

_“Sabotaged? Like the Beastie Boys song?”_

_“Yeah,” Jess says. She makes her voice sound mysterious and French. “ _Sabotaged_.”_

_“Why do you think that?” Cece asks._

_“The lock was wrong. I know my combo. It didn’t work. Plus, I put a little heart sticker on the back. It could’ve fallen off, but I know someone tampered with it. It’s not the same. Jessica P. and Jennifer S. are just messing with me. She once told me that I wear too many bows.”_

_Cece frowns, “What?”_

_“I know, right? There’s no such thing as too many bows.” Jess waves it off. “Whatever. They’re dumb.”_

_“That’s also weird because that’s why I was late. My lock wouldn’t work.”_

_Jess stops walking. Cece slows down and turns around._

_“What’s wrong?” asks Cece._

_“Where’s your locker?”_

_“Just down the other hall. I mean, I was planning on going to the main office and asking for a new lock. It’s probably just a coincidence.”_

_Jess looks around, suddenly more confident about roaming the halls alone. “Follow me.”_

_They sprint down the hall, trying to outrun the bell, but just as they arrive it rings loudly. They share a look. After a long moment, Cece shrugs. Jess grins._

_“Okay, here we go.”_

_She turns the locker to the numbers she’d written inside the back flap of her trapper keeper folder. After the third turn, she pulls down, and the lock snaps open._

_Jess pulls it off the locker’s door and flips it around. There is still a pink sparkly heart sticker on the back._

_Cece’s mouth drops. “Those bitches.”_

_Jess gasps, then breaks into a fit of giggles. “Here,” she says. She pulls at one of Cece’s books and transfers over the numbers of the combo she knows. Cece takes her lead and does the same with the combination she’d originally been given._

_“Wait,” Cece says. Her face breaks into a mischievous smile. “Do you have those stickers with you?”_

_“Of course,” Jess answers. She digs through her pencil case for the stack of stickers. When she pulls them out, Cece’s eyes go wide._

_“How many stickers is that?”_

_“I don’t know. Couple hundred? I used a bunch to mark when I have upcoming tests and homework in my weekly planner, already, there were more earlier,” Jess says._

_“Do you trust me?”_

_Jess gives a suspicious look. “I barely know you.”_

_“But do you trust me?” Cece repeats.  
_

###

“I’m still not understanding what this has to do with a picnic,” Nick says, his hands now deep in his pockets. “As adorable and entertaining as it is.”

“This doesn’t really have to do with it, but it will. It wouldn’t mean much to just tell you the shorthand story and this is too personal to describe in shorthand.”

Nick shrugs and nods. “So did you kick their asses?”

###

__  
_Jess smiles. Cece reaches for the stickers and has Jess point out which are the other two girls lockers. Sure enough each of them have lockers only one or two locker doors away from both Jess and Cece, likely how they decided to switch their locks._

_“A crime of opportunity,” Jess explains. “As Angela Lansbury would call it.”_

_Cece and Jess take advantage of the emptied out hallway to quickly put heart stickers all over the lockers. According to school rules, such locker decoration is strictly forbidden, as Jess found out while perusing the School Policies portion of the weekly planner earlier that day. If they weren’t doing it as punishment, she would’ve probably said she found the final product to be quite cute._

_After both their books are in their lockers, the two creep into the cafeteria as subtlety as possible so as not to arouse suspicion. As luck would have it, upperclassmen were wandering in and out all around the entrance, so it is easy to blend in._

_They both get tomato soup and grilled cheeses and talk about their favorite episodes of _Murphy Brown_.  
_

###

“So when you met Cece, you had lunch, so you celebrate that day? I mean, it’s really sweet, but I’m not sure why that’s so personal.” Nick smiles, trying to understand.

Jess frowns, serious and sad. “Nick, the day that I met Cece was the worst day of my life.”

Nick looks over at where Cece is sitting on the picnic blanket. Almost instinctively she feels his gaze and looks up from Winston and Schmidt’s bickering to look back. She looks sad, too.

There’s more to this and suddenly Nick understands why Jess was keeping it a secret. It feels way too intimate and like he’s walked in on someone grieving. Even if he loves them, like he loves Jess, he never knows what to say.

He doesn’t know what to say.

###

__  
While they don’t have the next class together, they both have the same social studies class at the end of the day. On the way to their separate classes, they make sure to walk past the heart covered lockers where other people have gathered to point and laugh and gossip about the trouble the owners would soon be in.

_Later, after science, they meet up and walk to last period together. Jennifer S.’s locker is directly across from the classroom. When they get there, she’s being supervised by a teacher’s aide and picking each individual sticker off, arduously, by hand. The look she shoots Cece and Jess is priceless. They whisper about how funny it is all through introduction to Colonialism._

_At the end of the day they both get their books from their lockers, using their new combinations. Jess has been dying to find a way to invite Cece back to her house all day without sounding like a tool, but there’s only five minutes before the buses will get there left for her to act._

_“Hey, I only live a couple blocks over, if you want to come hang out?” Jess blurts out, words pressed up together in a jumbled rush._

_Cece looks surprised, but she smiles. “That would be really cool. I’d like that. I’ll have to call my mom and let her know.”_

_Jess’ heart leaps, already planning all the great things she’ll do as host when they get there. “We can stop at the 7-Eleven on the way home! We can get slurpees! And snacks.”_

_Cece grins and they both head towards Jess’ house. After a brief stop-over, they drink their slurpees the entire walk back to the house. Jess goes over all the VHS movies they could watch and all the random board games she’s collected. It’s up to Cece, though, she insists. She’s the guest. It’s been a while since Jess had a guest._

_When they round the corner of Jess’ block, they’re deciding which episode of Quantum Leap to watch first. Until Jess stops in her tracks._

_Cece’s face darkens and although she’s not sure why Jess is so upset, she’s betting it’s something to do with the house with boxes all over the front lawn._

_Neither girl says anything, but they both continue on to Jess’ house in a tense silence. The front door is already open and when Jess walks in, she’s already visible distraught._

_Part of Cece wants to find a phone as quickly as she can just to have her Mom come get her, to give Jess some clearly needed privacy. Another part of her feels nervous for Jess. They’ve only known each other for half a day, but she feels like nothing good will come of this._

_Her chance to do anything of importance is squandered as who she presumes is Jess’ mom comes storming out of a back bedroom with another box._

_Jess’ voice cracks when she speaks. “Mom, what’s going on?”_

_Her mother stops suddenly, in that scared deer way that even only knowing Jess so briefly, Cece recognizes as genetic. She puts down the box and crosses her arms. “Jessica. You’re home. I thought you were going to stay at the library, again, today.”_

_There’s a twisted, uncomfortable beat before anyone can say more. Jess is genuinely crying, now. “Mom?”_

_Jess’ mom looks over at Cece. “What are you doing home? And you brought a friend?”_

_Jess ignores the polite, cheery questions. “Mom, what’s going on? What’s happening?”_

_Jess’ mother’s face falls, finally. Her pretenses lost. “Why don’t we go speak in private, so your friend—”_

_“ _Mom_!” Jess cries out._

_Her mother spares one last look at Cece before turning to Jess, matter-of-factly. “You’re father’s moving out. Next week.”_

_Jess cries and Cece sits in a chair as if on instinct, hit with the weight of the situation._

_“Why? I thought you decided to work through this, I thought you were going to make it work.”_

_“We’ve been trying to make it work for years, Jessica. We’ve been married since we were twenty-two. We have had a lot of time to figure this out. It’s for the best.”_

_Jess’ face is red and wet, like a newborn baby. “For the best? _For the best_?”_

_Her mother’s face turns stern and sad. “Yes, for the best. It is better for your father and I to live apart.”_

_Jess pulls her right arm to her chest, twisting her hand so that her palm faces out. She sobs harder. “And what about what’s best for me?”_

_Cece feels tears sting her own eyes, watching her new friend hiccup another sob._

_“Jessica, you’re still very young. In time, you’ll understand that this is best for you. Now why don’t you take your friend into your room and I’ll call her mother to come get her. I didn’t catch her name.”_

_Cece knows this is her way out and she wouldn’t even be cruel to take it. Jess could probably use the privacy to deal with the situation. Instead, though, she steps forward with a fire in her stomach. “It’s Cecilia and if it’s okay with you, Mrs. Day, I don’t plan on going anywhere.”_

_Jess sniffles and looks over at Cece, a smile making its way through her devastated face. Cece leads her back to the hallway Mrs. Day came from and Jess shows her to her room._

_Jess sinks down in front of her bed, tears streaming down her face. Cece politely pokes around the room before she finds a VHS tape of a Quantum Leap rerun. She puts it in the VCR and sits next to Jess. They watch it in silence for a while._

_Eventually, after Cece switches it out twice once the episodes end, putting in new tapes each time, Jess’ dad arrives home. There’s a lot of yelling and doors and boxes being slammed._

_Cece turns up the volume and reaches for Jess’ hand as they watch Scott Bakula try to save JFK.  
_

###

__  
The next day, Cece arrives early to school, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jess before classes begin. It is moments before the bell rings when Cece finally catches a glimpse of Jess getting in. She runs over to stop her.

_“Today, you’re coming to my house after school.”_

_Jess looks unsure._

_“It’s gonna be a blast. I got the Blossom boxset for my birthday,” Cece insists._

_Jess smiles and nods. “Okay, I can’t say no to Joey Lawrence. I’m only human.”_

_The bell rings and the girls make plans to meet up and walk to art class together.  
_

###

__  
By that time, however, Cece is livid. For all she knows, she’s the only one that Jess has even confided in about it, but somehow news of Jess’ parents’ divorce is spreading like wildfire. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, of course, since plenty of other kids have had parents separate. In her homeroom alone it’s got to be at least a half dozen.

_It’s just the viciousness of the rumor seems to be greatly influenced as funny and embarrassing because it sounds like it came from Jennifer S. and Jessica P._

_When she meets up with Jess, she breaks the news quick and dirty. “Keep walking, don’t react. Jessica and Jennifer told everyone about your Mom and Dad. The best way to get them back right now is to be totally unfazed.”_

_Jess frowns and squints her eyes shut. “How am I supposed to stay unfazed about my parents’ sudden and heated divorce?”_

_“Because you are killing it with that bow,” Cece says. Jess smiles and touches her headband. “And I’m here. Let them come at you, girl. It’s not like it was before. They come at you, they come at both of us. You’re not alone.”_

_Jess smiles and adjusts her glasses._

_Cece paints a grassy knoll, Jess paints a blood red sunset.  
_

###

__  
After a day of highly contested gossiping, Jess and Cece leave school to stop at the 7-Eleven for slurpees, snacks, and the pay phone.

_The 7-Eleven is highly frequented by people from their school, since it’s only a block away from school. Stopping there after school is akin to visiting the school store, but with more options._

_Today is no different, except the moment the girls walk in, something is off._

_They’re only inside the store for a few footsteps before they instantly sense the threat. Jessica and Jennifer are there with Danielle, Jennifer R., Courtney, _and_ Kim W.  
_

###

“I know you’re just listing girls’ names, but I’m really scared for you guys, right now,” Nick says, seriously. “I mean Kim W.? How can she not be bad news, I feel like she must be real bad news.”

Jess nods. “She was. For real.”

###

__  
“Oh, hi, Jess and Jess’ loser friend,” Kim W. says flipping her hair over her shoulder and straightening her scrunchie. “What brings you here? Buying microwave dinners to make after your mom moves out?”  


###

Nick’s jaw drops. “I was right. Kim W.’s a real dick.”

###

__  
“Actually it’s my dad that’s moving out, but why don’t you mind your own business?” Jess says, hips sashaying as she walks past the group of girls and pulls out a slurpee cup.

_There’s a wave of disbelieving “ugh’s” and Cece smiles, shrugs, and follows Jess. They gather all their things, go to the check out and leave the store without another glance at the posse of pre-teens._

_Jess stops at the pay phone to leave a message on her parents’ answering machine, letting them know she’ll be over at Cece’s._

_Just as she’s finishing up, however, the girls exit the store and are all snickering and not-so-quietly whispering things about Jess. They have to move out of the entrance of the store to the edge of the parking lot, near where the pay phones are, since the foot traffic is so high, it being a weekend._

_Other kids from their grade walk past and point at both groups, knowing the bullying and gossip that’s been going on all day._

_“Hey, Jess, why don’t you take these home with you in case your parents decide to get divorced again,” Jennifer S. says, throwing a pack of disposable tissues across the gap between them, hitting Jess on the head._

_Nearby, a boy from their social studies class laughs. Cece snaps. “Hold this,” she says to Jess, handing over her slurpee._

_She walks the distance between them and stares down at Jennifer S. then gazes over at all six of the girls. “Apologize,” she grinds out._

_“Yeah right,” Jennifer S. says, uncomfortably. She’s still trying to pretend to be better than them, but it’s obvious she’s rattled._

_Cece takes a step back and lets out a loud laugh. There’s now a small crowd gathered in clumps, watching the goings-on. Cece takes a short stroll around in a circle before walking back up, eye-to-eye with Jessica P. and the Jennifers. She takes a breath, pulls back and decks Jennifer S. right between the eyes. The other girl goes down like a sack of flour._

_She walks back over to Jess, who is staring at her in shock, and asks for her slurpee back. She rests it on her knuckles, sore from the hit, before the takes a sip, then hands it back to Jess._

_Cece walks back over and without the hesitation of before, punches Jessica P. The crowd gasps and laughs. The other four girls look ready to bolt. Kim W. is shaking._

_“Here, here,” Jennifer R. says, panicked. She clumps their plastic 7-Eleven bags together and holds them out as an offering. “Please don’t hit us too, we didn’t start the rumor.”_

_Cece takes the bags, but her expression doesn’t soften. “You did help spread it though. So,” she pauses and gives another threatening smile. “Apologize.”_

_A chorus of shaky, “‘I’m sorry’s” answer._

_Jennifer S. and Jessica P. mumble their own muffled apologies from the ground._

_Cece’s eyes narrow, looking at the two. “P.” she turns to other, “S. I’ll end you if I hear you bother my best friend again. Understood?”_

_They nod._

_Cece walks back to where Jess stands grinning. Jess hands her slurpee back and offers her arm. They walk away, elbows interlocking, laughing and never look back.  
_

###

Nick smiles. “So you have a picnic every year, today?”

Jess smiles, wanly. “It was a horrible day and experience. This is just what we do to remind ourselves that we’ll always have each other.”

Nick walks over to Jess and without saying anything more, he hugs her and kisses her cheek.

He turns around and walks across the park to where Schmidt and Winston are still arguing, but now about the best type of grape. Schmidt claims it’s a Sultana/Thompson seedless and Winston prefers “purple.”

Nick reaches out a hand and halting the boys’ disagreement, Cece holds her hand out. He gives it a firm shake. “All right, you guys. Let’s let them get back to business.”

Cece smiles, regally. Schmidt and Winston are thrown.

“What and we don’t get even a summary of what this is all about?” Winston asks.

“It’s none of our business,” Nick answers.

Jess walks up as they stand smiling as she sits back down in the spot they vacate.

Nick pushes them forward. Schmidt holds up a finger. “So where did we land on the ‘whether or not Jess and Cece having made out’ front?”

“They never made out, Schmidt.”

Cece raises a hand and Jess leans over and pushes it down, laughing. The boys continue walking away, their conversation fading into inaudible as they get further out.

“Not today,” Jess mumbles angrily. “One enigmatic trip down memory lane at a time!”

Jess reaches over and pulls two frozen slurpees out of the picnic basket, three Tootsie pops, a pair of Milky Ways, and six bags of assorted chips and popcorn. She places it all next to the Perrier and Twizzlers.

“Twenty more years?” Jess asks, sincerely.

“Let’s make it forty,” Cece replies.

Jess reaches over and grabs Cece’s hand, intertwining their fingers. Their bottles clink together.


End file.
